96 building projects on tap for north Harris County

Chad Saddoris

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, August 12, 2002

During the North Houston Association's legislative breakfast AUG. 1, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole joined the 60 or so community leaders to discuss some of what Pct. 4 has in store for the always growing North Harris County. During the breakfast the commissioner painted a picture of an endless cycle of building and development that shows no sign of slowing, with 34 capital improvement projects entering the design phase at a cost of $96 million, 13 projects costing the county $39 million are on bid to contractors, 22 projects have entered phase 1 construction totaling $39 million, as well as $33 million wrapped up in 16 projects already in construction and another 57 candidate projects on the drawing board, running up a calculated tab of over $300 million.

Due to what he called the great quality of life in the Pct. 4 area, Eversole said that he sees no end in sight for the continuing improvements that the Precinct must make. "We've got good air, trees and great school districts, and unless something drastic happens to any one of those things the current rate of growth in Pct. 4 will not change," Eversole said, noting that in just a few years he expects Pct. 4 to be the largest precinct in Harris County.

Because of the incredible growth of the precinct, Eversole isolated the Grand Parkway as the project that is the key to making sure the outlying areas can continue to increase in size and sufficiently handle the growth. Eversole compared the project to the Beltway 8 system and challenged anyone to imagine Houston without it. "It would be total chaos," he said, "not just in the north but for all of the outer areas of Houston," pointing out Houston's historic growth of the city and county in rings like the IH 610 loop, FM 1960 and Beltway 8.

Simply put, Eversole said that the Grand Parkway must be built and will be built. Eversole mentioned that the opponents of the project have not realistically looked at the problems the county faces in living without the Grand Parkway and added that those that argue their property is being devalued because of the construction of such a road may be surprised to find that the opposite is true.

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Realizing that not everyone will be satisfied or agree with all of the plans that he or Pct. 4 have, Eversole said that despite the controversy, he feels that projects like the Grand Parkway and the underpass at Kuykendahl and FM 1960 will be well worth it in the end.